Growing Flowers In Space (nasa.gov)

An anonymous reader writes: This weekend, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly posted a picture of the first flower to bloom in space. The International Space Station has been home to the Veggie plant growth facility for almost two years, and scientists have been working hard to figure out how to keep crops alive in microgravity. It's a challenge to keep plants properly heated and hydrated, and their current specimens been attacked by mold as well. "More crops for Veggie are heading to the orbiting laboratory aboard SpaceX-8. The Veg-03 run will include two sets of Chinese cabbage, and one set of red romaine lettuce. In 2018, there are plans to launch dwarf tomato seeds to the space station. Smith said the lessons learned from growing zinnia flowers will be critical in the process of growing tomatoes, a fellow flowering plant. Studies are also in progress to see how adjusting the lighting in the Veggie plant growth facility can affect plan mineral composition. There will be preflight testing to determine what 'light recipe' to use aboard the station."

Comments

Re:Nope, not the first

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

Soviet flowers, American flowers... all from seeds made in Taiwan!

This is not seious science

[duckintheface]

The way you can tell is that the article mentions that their plants had been attacked by mold. Really? And why were mold spores allowed to come into the plant growth facility? This reminds me of a comment by the agronomist in the Biosphere 2 building in Arizona, which was supposed to be a test of the ability of humans to survive in a closed environment such as a Mars habitat. She said she spent two thirds of her time weeding the vegetable garden.

There are lots of difficulties related to space agriculture, including light, heat, and hydration as mentioned in this article. But the ONE ADVANTAGE of off-world farming is that you can guarantee pest free, disease free, weed free environments for the plants. Once the plants are in a space habitat that is clean, there is no reason for ever allowing them to be infected. There are no weeds or bugs on Mars.

Failure to make use of that one big advantage tells you that this Space Shuttle plant stuff is just a publicity stunt.